Paradise & Magalia residents confused by mystery powder

People in Paradise and Magalia are confused about a mystery, white powder that suddenly started showing up on their vehicles.
Many say they've never seen anything like this and there is lots of speculation about what this could be.

Posted: Jan. 15, 2018 6:10 PM

Updated: Jan. 15, 2018 6:10 PM

Posted By: AJ Abell

People in Paradise and Magalia are confused about a mystery, white powder that suddenly started showing up on their vehicles.

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Many say they've never seen anything like this and there is lots of speculation about what this could be.

“My girlfriend down the street came over the other day, and she also has a black car, and she said ‘What is that? Do you have this stuff all over your car?’” said Magalia resident Chawne Luna.

She’s lived in Magalia for 16 years, and this is the first time she's seen this something like this.

People are describing it as a gritty, gray powder that's slightly slippery when you touch it.

Some are thinking it's pollen, but many say it's not because pollen is yellow and sticks to your car. This stuff is white, and it just blows right off.

Luna said she just spent a few hundred dollars getting her cars detailed.

“It was continuing to fall during the detailing process, so all-day long it's been falling. We got up this morning and the cars were covered again,” she said.

And now it's all over the cars again.

Lots of people are also talking about this online; there are hundreds of comments on various Facebook pages about this, of course with plenty of theories.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Joe Tapia said they haven't received any calls about it and none of them have even seen it.

Some speculate it's ash.

“We've had lots of fires up here, obviously, so we've had ash on our cars and it's obviously a lot larger particles, this is just a very fine dust.” Luna said.

Tapia said people are burning some piles in their yards but there are no large vegetation fires going on anywhere in the North State.